frankschmitt.org:

And curiously enough, taking rejection less personally may help you to get rejected less often. If you think someone judging you will work hard to judge you correctly, you can afford to be passive. But the more you realize that most judgements are greatly influenced by random, extraneous factors—that most people judging you are more like a fickle novel buyer than a wise and perceptive magistrate—the more you realize you can do things to influence the outcome.

From Two Kinds of Judgement. One of the things in life that it took me far too long to learn is that people will totally judge you on shit that shouldn’t matter. To argue that first impressions don’t really matter is to ignore the fact that in most situations they determine whether you’re granted the opportunity to make a second impression.

Of course it’s completely unfair, but trying to condemn reality for its moral failings is a losing game.